


compromises

by The_Eclectic_Bookworm



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: F/M, Season/Series 03, jenny's alive bc i refuse to acknowledge any other timeline exists
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-02-29 20:00:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18785173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Eclectic_Bookworm/pseuds/The_Eclectic_Bookworm
Summary: Giles wants Angel to pay for hurting Jenny, but gets himself hurt in the process. Jenny isn't happy about that.





	compromises

**Author's Note:**

> prompted by dollsome-does-tumblr: "Rupert, what the hell were you thinking?"

"Rupert, what the  _hell_ were you thinking?"

The truthful answer, of course, would be “nothing at all,” but Giles really couldn’t see that going over very well with an extremely angry Jenny. Unfortunately, given that he had sustained more than a few head injuries in his headlong rushing of Angel, he didn’t really have enough energy to come up with a convincing enough answer. He looked up at her, instead, focusing on the details—the bruise on her cheek, the mussed hair, the spark of angry life in her eyes—and was struck by how very much he loved her. How very lucky he was.

Jenny pressed her lips together, then sat down next to him. “For a well-read librarian who knows more dead languages than I can count,” she said, “you are kind of the biggest idiot I’ve ever met.”

Giles reached out, tucking his hand into the crook of her arm.

“He has his soul,” said Jenny. “You didn’t—” She exhaled, frustrated. “You know, I wouldn’t be so pissed off if we hadn’t already _had_ this conversation,” she said, but the furious, panicked bite to her words was now entirely gone. “About how Angel isn’t Angelus, and Angel didn’t try to kill me, and re-integrating him into the Scooby Gang was going to be tough, but for Buffy’s sake, I really wanted to try. And _you_ gave me a _ridiculous_ amount of shit for even _insinuating_ that you might react irrationally—”

“I know.”

“—and then as _soon_ as you see him, you _attack_ him—”

“I know.”

“—and he’s been in a hell dimension for _centuries,_ Rupert, he's conditioned himself to fight off  _monsters,_ he could’ve—” Jenny cut herself off with a small, broken sob, then glared at him. “And _fuck you,_ by the way, for making me cry about this!”

Giles leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers. “I’m sorry,” he said, too exhausted and strangely sad to really muster up anything else.

Jenny was quiet for a moment. Then, unsteadily, she said, “Nobody’s ever fought like that for something done to me, Rupert. And as incredible as it is to know you love me that much, the thought of you dying for me isn’t something I like at all, so—so if you love me _that_ much, then please don’t do something like that again.”

“It was Angel,” said Giles, unwilling to make a promise he couldn’t keep. “There wasn’t a risk factor. He might have hurt me severely, but—”

“Don’t you dare say that like that’s somehow better!” said Jenny sharply.

"I don’t know how to change—”

 _“He didn’t kill me,”_ said Jenny fiercely. “Okay? I am _here,_ and I love you _so much,_ and I want you here _with me,_ not dead because you wanted to inflict pain on Angel for something that a demon inside him  _wasn’t able to do.”_ Now she really was crying. “I can’t lose you over vengeance,” she managed, hands gripping his lapels. “I’ve lost too much over that already, Rupert, please— _please,_ not you.”

Perhaps Giles couldn’t promise an end to the _furious_ anger he felt at the thought of Jenny being hurt—perhaps he might never be able to promise that—but hurting Jenny so viscerally was unforgivable. “I won’t do it again,” he said softly. “I won’t. All right?”

Jenny was now crying too hard to speak.

“Jenny, I’m sorry,” Giles murmured, and gathered her into his arms. Absolutely every muscle in his body protested this movement—most of them still recovering from, well, being tossed about by Angel—but it was worth it to feel the way Jenny curled into him all but instinctively.

"You are the _worst_ boyfriend,” Jenny sobbed. “You are _terrible_ at this!”

“I don’t know, at least I didn’t go on a homicidal rampage after we made love for the first time,” said Giles, who generally defaulted to putting down Angel to make himself feel better. “If I recall—”

Jenny raised her head, sniffling, and rubbed her nose against his. “You kept on quoting love poetry until I hit you with a pillow,” she said, a wet laugh in her voice. “And you still thought you were  _so_ funny—”

Giles smiled a little bit and leaned forward, just enough to hint at a kiss. Jenny closed the distance between them, kissing him with the tender familiarity he was only just beginning to get used to, and something warm and certain unfurled in his chest: _for her, I won’t ever be vengeful._


End file.
